Corvette Summer

I read several reviews about this movie before writing mine. I always do for some reason. The one common thread throughout a lot of the reviews is a point I definitely agree with. This movie oozes 70's cheese. Keep in mind, I happen to love the tackiness that only the 70's could offer.

Aside from that, this is a fairly simple, yet entertaining movie. Does it break any new ground? Certainly not. But how many movies do? Our main character, Kenny Dantley, builds and falls in love with a custom Corvette in his high school shop class. Not long after it is built the car is stolen. The cops tell Dantley and the rest of his shop class that the car most likely will never be recovered. Dantley refuses to accept this and heads to where he heard the car was last seen. Vegas. Along the way he falls in love with Vanessa, a wannabe hooker headed to Vegas to "go pro".

There is no doubt that this is a "B" grade drive in movie. That being said, if you are a "car guy" (as I am) this movie should prove to be worth watching. Anyone who has ever fallen in love with a car will understand Dantley's obsession. It's NOT "just" a car. Car guys know their obsessions are irrational, but that doesn't stop us. Call me crazy, but the attraction a car guy has to his favorite model isn't THAT much different than the one he feels to his dream girl.

Corvette Summer offers a few laughs and a return to a part of the 70's a lot would like to forget. The disco van scene. There are some familiar faces from the era and a great chase scene at the end of the movie. Not every movie is Oscar bound. Let's not forget a movies most important purpose is to entertain.

This movie is somewhat underrated, at least in my opinion, I guess that one has to enjoy cars to enjoy the movie. Anyway, it has Mark Hamill in one of his many not-so-famous roles, but he still makes the film watchable for a Star Wars fan. Pretty good chase scene at the end...

If you are a Star Wars fan, it is interesting to see Mark Hamill in this movie, second only to The Big Red One as non Star Wars performances go.

Annie Potts of Ghostbusters and Designing Women fame is great. I personally have nothing against Hamill and would like to see him do more movies and choose better scripts. Look for this film from the same creative team as Dragonslayer (another underrated film, which Ally McBeal fans should seek to see Peter MacNichol in a slightly different light).

It is well worth it. It won't change your life, but it's not a rip-off. It's good summer fun.

The gas tank is either half full or half empty depending on how you view CORVETTE SUMMER. One could justly call it forced in its humor, directionless, repetitive and overlong. Others will see a likable, innocent coming-of-age adventure. It depends on your mood and, more prominently, your aversion to '70s cheese and ability to forgive silver screen shortcomings.

Kenny Dantley is a freshly-minted high school grad who has more time for cars than girls (he's played by a distinctly non-high school aged Mark Hamill, but bear with us). To say he loves the blazing red Stingray he and his shop classmates restored doesn't go far enough in describing the relationship. When the Corvette is swiped by evildoers, our hero swoops into action to track it down on the mean streets of Nevada, intent on ensuring that what was stolen and brought to Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. He finds an unlikely ally in Vanessa (Annie Potts), an aspiring hooker with a heart of gold and an affinity for car-obsessed teenagers.

I have a special attachment to CORVETTE SUMMER. It was one of the first movies I saw late at night when I was 13 and allowed to stay home alone on the weekends while the folks went camping. TBS's NITE FLIX (oh, how we miss NITE FLIX... so much better than RUSH HOUR 2 played thrice in a row) carried it at 2 a.m., and I had a blast. Recently, I rented it after all these years and found that while it wasn't the masterpiece I remembered, it is amusing and at times quite absorbing, though it starts to lay more than rubber in the second half. Hamill and Potts are no George and Gracie, but they suffice, and the supporting cast, including Eugene Roche (as Mr. McGrath) and Kim Milford (the villainous Wayne Lowry), hold up their end of the bargain.

CORVETTE SUMMER has an awful reputation; it has even been mocked in MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000 (as the characters mocked another film). I'm sure there are those who still blame it for the utter failure of Mark Hamill's post-STAR WARS career. But it is what it is, an imperfect though fun ride back into the late '70s. It's recommended, but only for certain tastes in the mood for something different.

"Corvette Summer" is a coming-of-age story, but it runs pretty rough (I know, I know, I'll watch it with the car puns). It hits the right notes for such a movie, and the right characters get what they're meant to have in the end, but it's a surprisingly somber affair. Mark Hamill (looking particularly squalid) spends a great deal of time sulking through the streets of Sin City in search of his stolen hot rod, and that character just seems to sap the life outta this thing. Stick with it and there's that appropriate ending and even an eleventh-hour car chase.

But here's why this movie is worth a watch: Annie Potts. Charming, warm and unbelievably attractive, she's the reason "Corvette Summer" has any life at all. It's the kind of performance that makes you look forward to her next scene.

She's something else.

6/10